Celebrating 100 Remarkable Years of Artist Tom Gleghorn OAM

On 2 June 2025, world-renowned artist Tom Gleghorn OAM celebrated his 100th birthday — a monumental milestone in a career that has helped shape Australian art for more than 70 years.

Best known for his powerful abstract landscapes and expressive figurative work, Gleghorn's art is held in prestigious collections including the National Gallery of Australia, and state galleries across South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia. His influence also spans universities, corporate collections, and private holdings internationally.

Photo: Artist Tom Gleghorn and his wife, Elise, in his studio in the 1960s. They have been married 77 years, and met when they were in their teens.

A Legacy of Creativity

Gleghorn’s creative journey began in 1949 after seeing paintings by William Dobell at the Art Gallery of NSW — an encounter that changed the course of his life. Encouraged by Dobell himself, Tom left his engineering job to pursue art, initially working in display design before fully committing to painting. His signature abstract style quickly emerged, capturing emotion and movement rather than literal representation.

“My paintings are not of a subject — they are about a subject,” Gleghorn has said. “You put down a mark and then you add to it and add to it.”

In the 1950s, Tom won key art prizes including the Mosman Art Prize and the Blake Christus Prize for his work Head of Christ — one of his most cherished paintings. In 1961, he was awarded the Helena Rubinstein Travelling Scholarship, allowing him to explore Europe’s great galleries and deepen his understanding of international art movements.

Photo: Tom Gleghorn, pictured on his exhibition invitation from Kym Bonython’s Hungry Horse Art Gallery, Sydney, 1966

Artist, Educator, Mentor

Upon returning to Australia, Gleghorn became an art educator, teaching at the National Art School in Sydney, then leading the art department at Canberra Art School, and later teaching in Adelaide at Bedford Teachers College (now Flinders University). His influence on emerging Australian artists during these decades is widely acknowledged.

Since 1969, Adelaide has been home to Gleghorn and his family, where his studio practice flourished and he became a central figure in the local arts, wine, and hospitality communities. Over the years, he has completed numerous mural commissions, served as artist-in-residence at various wineries, and exhibited widely.

A Proud Partnership with Art Images Gallery

Art Images Gallery has proudly sold Tom Gleghorn’s work for over 20 years, showcasing his dynamic and expressive prints.

To this day, two of Tom Gleghorn’s limited-edition prints are available through Art Images Gallery — both online and in person — a testament to the enduring appeal of his visual language.

Celebrating a Century of Art

Over his career, Gleghorn has received more than 30 major art prizes and staged around 60 solo exhibitions, including the acclaimed 2020 retrospective HOMEWARD BOUND: The Art and Life of Tom Gleghorn, presented by the Newcastle Art Gallery. The show spanned works from across his career and reached an even broader audience online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Described as "the greatest painter in Australia" by gallery director Hal Missingham, and dubbed “the Phar Lap of Australian art” by critic Robert Hughes, Tom Gleghorn remains humble, creative, and deeply respected.

As he celebrates 100 years, Art Images Gallery honours Tom Gleghorn not just for his remarkable body of work, but for his ongoing impact on Australian visual culture.

Looking to collect Tom Gleghorn’s work?

Explore available pieces, including his long-standing limited-edition prints, online at Art Images Gallery or visit us in-store.